1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, particularly to a multiplexing process of a character image signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has heretofore been known that character images are multiplexed and displayed when an image is displayed in a television monitor or the like.
Moreover, in recent years, there has appeared a TV monitor capable of displaying a wide image having an aspect ratio of 16:9 in addition to a conventional normal image having an aspect ratio of 4:3. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-124021 (having a corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,590), there is described an apparatus which multiplexes and displays character image data with respect to the normal and wide images.
A constitution described in the above-described publication will be described with reference to FIG. 12.
There are prepared wide parts 1201, common parts 1202, and normal parts 1203. Image data of a GUI screen to be displayed in a wide monitor 1204 is produced using the wide parts 1201 and the common parts 1202. Image data of a GUI screen to be displayed in a normal monitor 1205 is produced using the common parts 1202 and the normal parts 1203.
However, in the constitution of FIG. 12, the wide parts 1201, the common parts 1202, and the normal parts 1203 are required. When the number (resolution) of pixels of the image data to be handled per screen increases, a data amount also increases. Therefore, there has been a problem that a large scale of a circuit required in image processing, such as a memory, is required.
In recent years, there has appeared a video camera which can record/reproduce high-definition (HD) image data in addition to standard-definition (SD) image data.
Also in this type of video camera, the character image data is multiplexed onto an output image thereof and output.
Therefore, in a portable apparatus like the video camera, the large circuit scale is unfavorably required in a case where the character image data is multiplexed onto an HD signal.